What's Cooking?

Slashfood Steak Day - Chuck Wagon Steak

I am a total carnivore, so when I saw that Slashfood was hosting a steak day I knew I just had to join in. We grill our steaks rare, and if we use any seasoning at all it's usually only a bit of salt, steak spice, or seasoning salt. I didn't want to go too far off from that, so I went searching for a unique rub for Steak Day. I certainly found a unique one but when I mentioned it Mr. WhatsCooking he told me I was crazy - I did it anyway. This rub calls for coffee grinds. You don't really taste the coffee in the end and it isn't gritty, which is what I was afraid of, but the coffee does add depth to the flavour. This steak is HOT though, so if you don't like a good peppery steak, then you may want to cut back on the steak spice used. I used Montreal Steak Spice, my favourite, and I've included a recipe for it in case you can't get it where you are.

Sugar High Friday - Strawberries in Ginger Lime Syrup

This month's Sugar High Friday is being hosted by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast and the theme is Ginger. I have to admit I'm not a big ginger fan. Other than my brief holistic ginger week I haven't really done a lot of cooking with it. As soon as I read the theme though, I knew exactly which recipe I was going to try. Our local strawberries just aren't quite ready yet, as I was hoping they would be, so I did use VERY LARGE imported strawberries. In my opinion this dish would be much nicer with the super sweet little strawberries that are hell to pick but taste so good. Strawberries in Ginger-Lime Syrup turned out awesome! They have everything a taste experience should have - some bite from the ginger, the tang from the lime and the sweetness of the strawberries. And for a nice finish some cool whipped cream on top. Allow yourself a little prep time, as these need to chill for about an hour before serving. 

Baked Potatoes

This is pretty basic, and more of a technique than an actual recipe. This is the way my mother makes her baked potatoes, and a variation on my husband's baked potatoes. Now, if you don't like the skin on your baked potato (the best part, in my opinion, and you really should try it), then you will want to take a few strips of peel off before adding the seasoning and butter.

Swiss Steak (Or What Do I Do With Another Roundsteak, part 1)

I'm sure I've said it before, but we live on a farm. Mostly my husband and I raise horses, but every couple of years we raise a calf and a couple of pigs. Raising our own beef is great, for the most part. They are grain-fed, no hormone, no antibiotic cattle that we raise. So while we get the best, tender premium cuts of beef, we also usually end up with about 30 full rounds of steak. That's a lot of round steak. Swiss Steak is a quick and easy way to get round steak edible. This is an old recipe that my mom always used to make - she is the one who added the carrots to it. It is very flexible in the simmer time, calls for pre-browning but you can skip that if you have to, and could be done in the crockpot if you wanted. 

Pasta Carbonara (ish)

This is one of those suppers that makes you think "WOW, that was good, and WOW am I full". And no matter what any diet commercial tells you, the only food that actually makes you feel this good has to be really, really bad for you. Pasta Carbonara is no exception - but I think it's worth the diet infractions. This carbonara is a variation on the original theme. My sister has a cookbook called "Old World Recipes", and the pasta carbonara recipe in there has only bacon, eggs, parmesan and pasta in it. No heavy cream, no onions or mushrooms, just the basics. It's good like that too, but I love the combination in my carbonara. There's just something about mushrooms and onions cooked in bacon fat

that is irresistable.

 

No Chunky Cheese Lasagna

It's a pretty nasty name for an otherwise really great lasagna. The fact is that I have issues with food textures, and one of the worst food textures, in my opinion, is cottage cheese. Can't do it. Mr.WhatsCooking would strongly disagree (he loves cottage cheese, especially in his lasagna), but since I do most of the cooking he gets to eat it my way. Which, naturally, I feel is the better way. This lasagna uses a white sauce instead of the cottage cheese or ricotta I've seen in most lasagnas. I don't think this is an original idea, but I did the substitution on my own one day. I think it tastes great and is very nice to look at. The picture above is of Cooking Disaster #1 -- I had a litre of cream in my fridge that needed used up, so I tried a slightly different white sauce recipe. What ended up happening is that the white sauce bubbled up out of its layer and mixed in with the rest of the lasagna sauce. In the end I had a very nice tasting lasagna with a rose sauce instead of two distinct types of sauces. (And the comment that if I had used ricotta that wouldn't have happened.)

Three Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies.

These are the easiest cookies ever and they taste good too. These are almost a processed food, but I think they are probably better for you than a purchased box or bag of cookies. And if you get the cake mixes when they are on sale for 99 cents, then they are much cheaper than the factory made cookies.

HAG Pork - Hoisin, Apple, Ginger

This is something I came up with on my own. Stop screaming - it really actually turned out okay. The verdict from Mr. What'sCooking was that is was 'certainly flavourful' and the whole supper was 'visually appealing'. I liked it and the kids ate it so in my opinion, it's a keeper. The recipe came about because we were beginning to be overtaken by the plague - a vicious 24 hour stomach virus that had attacked my youngest son the day before. I wanted something with ginger in it (in fact, everything we ate for 3 days had ginger in it), and apples or applesauce. On some obscure website there was a comment that ginger and apples might help fight the 'flu'. The hoisin sauce got added in because I just discovered it and think it's pretty cool. It is important in stir-frying to do the meat in small batches in a very hot pan. If it is seared properly then it won't lose it's moisture and become tough. It may seem like more work, but the small amount of meat cooks up much faster than a heap of it in the pan.

Mixology Monday - Iced Coffee

My first food blogging event is Mixology Monday, being hosted by Darcy at The Art of Drink I've decided to make an alcoholic version of a summer favourite - Iced Coffee. If this summer in Southern Ontario is anything like last summer, I'll need my morning caffeine kick a little cooler than a regular cuppa. Of course, alcohol is always a great way to start the day, right? If you or your family and friends frown on cocktails for breakfast, this can definitely be served as a dessert after a great summer barbeque. You can substitue the Kahlua in this recipe for any other coffee flavoured liquer. Bailey's Irish Cream is also an excellent substitute, if you think you would like to balance the coffee taste.

Grilled Carrots

Carrots take on a whole new texture and flavour once they have been grilled. In the summer when it's too hot to cook anything else, these are a great side dish to your main supper, and it doesn't heat up the kitchen. Once the weather gets nice, we abandon our house and do almost all of our cooking and eating outside. I always like to barbeque carrots with supper because I know my kids will actually eat them. Don't get me wrong - I love the taste and texture of them too (the carrots, not the kids), but my kids adore grilled carrots. These work best if you have a grill basket for your grill. If you don't have one, you can cut the carrots into long strips, toss them into the oil and grill them across the bars of the barbeque. A medium sized carrot should cut into about 4 long slices. I've specified Kosher salt in the recipe, and I personally think that a slightly coarse salt works best, but if all you have is table salt then just use a little less of it.